The less said about yesterday’s attempt, the better. I’ve rarely found myself so astonishingly incapable as I was when I tried to make that blog. Oddly I remember trying. I had just got in the door, unfamiliarly drunk after an evening with an old friend. We had eaten well, but I had drunk better. As a practical thing, I had put two fingers in and emptied myself. Sleeping on that would have been worse than getting it out, and today it was technical rehearsal all day. Thank the lord I’m only really in the second half. But I needed every inch of sleep I could get and I knew it.
Into the theatre.
With my pass I can get in through all the doors at the RST. It’s lovely, but it’s still a maze to me. My dressing room is shared with Scott, up on the second floor, overlooking the river avon. Chloe is the unfortunate soul tasked with looking after us. There’s daily laundry, so none of that wearing wet clothes malarkey, except perhaps on two show days. My first half is a departure from what I’m used to. I’m dressed up in Jacobean costume just because I sing on stage for a few moments. Then I go sit in a box stage right, surrounded by an array of microphones and amusing singers. For a good chunk I’m the only actor in there, occasionally droning into a mic and trusting that the sound guys are making it all sound like a human voice. We do a midnight song and then some others join and we do a sea song. Currently that’s as far as we’ve got in tech, but I’m beginning to make sense of the fact that, for the first half of proceedings, I’m a musician. Quite a pleasant thing to experience. As you know I like to experiment with different aspects of craft.
The theatre interior will grow to familiarity over time. Right now it is new but energetically it is absolutely howling with currents. This town has played host to so many tellings of so many remarkable tales, channeled with joy and craft and pain through a wide range of humans. Names of friends are written on the walls. Little pictures and memories from other shows that have passed through. So much history here in this sleepy riverside town.
I guess I needed to get that boozyness out of my system for good last night. It was great to see an old friend, someone I haven’t seen for perhaps twenty years. But good lord.
Day off tomorrow and I’m glad of it. Time to gather myself together again before we open. Next week we will get to the bit when I come on stage and do words. That’s quite a thing to look forward to in that building with the team, these lights. It’s exciting.
AlBarclay 